One of the important objective of HR is - Engaging Employees to have a sustain workforce - builds a talented employees committed to the growth of an organization.
Engaged employees are rare. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work
What is ?
Employee engagement first. No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it. That’s why you need to take the measure of employee engagement at least once a year through anonymous surveys in which people feel completely safe to speak their minds.
Jack and Suzy Welch
Why is it important ?
As a HR practitioner we all know the how valued our employees are and there are numerous occasions to celebrate these. Creating a Rewards & Recognition Programs are critical for enhancing the motivation levels of employees both at individual and team level.
When ?
- Events and Occasions to celebrate
- Individual Milestones - Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, Womens Day, Fathers Day etc etc
- Group Achievements - Team Work, Project Completion, Product Releases etc
- Company Milestones
- Large Contract Wins, Clients Appreciation, Turnover / Profitability Achievements
My interactions with HR folks handling employee engagement often reveal the more focus on making more and more events to "engage" employees. If we are to consider the costs and the results in reality they do not quite add up. Attrition continues to happen even in the best of companies who boast of carrying a year long list of activities just to keep the employees connected and engage.
Sadly many feel that employee event management = engaged employee which is a wrong notion. There is no guarantee that the so called parties / outdoor events will eventually culminate bonding between the employees and employer. They are essential but not the only solution to engage highly skilled work force.
Proactively Engaging employees :
Besides having a well thought our plan for events and activities, HR should more focus on how to make employees truly engage themselves and apply at work ! While the events do have a shorter memory lane, it is what the employee perform is more important than their participation in parties and picnics.
In my opinion Companies should provide
- Challenging Work
- Learning Opportunities
- Technical support
- Clearly defined tasks with timelines
- Constant Feed back - good or bad should be given without any hesitation.
- Reward and Recognition for the best performers
Various stages at which Employee Engagement can be implemented include :
- Recruitment
- Training & Learning
- Compensation & Benefits
- Performance Management
Measuring levels of Employee Engagement -
As per Gallup there are 3 types of employees and they fall broadly into -
(a) Engaged
(b) Not Engaged
(c) Highly Dis-engaged.
HR should focus more on how to convert the 2 categories which are not connected with the business objectives and lack a true engagement with the work. Sharing a sample of initiatives of IBM in the link -
